The Dolphins gave the Patriots a run for their money. The Dolphins defense was able to slow down the Patriots, holding them to 6 points in the 2nd half and sacking Brady numerous times.

Reshad Jones had his 3rd interception of the season and it would have been a pick 6 if not for penalties. Jones also had a sack and 10 tackles.

Brian Hartline had 5 catches for 84 yards. In reality, he should have had much more as he got behind the New England secondary at least two times and with better deep throws would have had some big plays and potentially two touchdowns.

As mentioned before, the Dolphins sacked Brady four times. One of the biggest sacks came from Cameron Wake, who now has 10.5 sacks on the season.

The Bad

The offense missed several opportunities to score, including two deep passes to Brian Hartline, who was wide open and Tannehill missed him. The Dolphins also had one opportunity to tie the game starting from the 50 yard line and accomplished nothing. The Dolphins were 3 of 13 on third down and really lost this game due to offensive inconsistency.

That first punt by the Dolphins was disastrous.

The Ugly

Ryan Tannehill had an ugly game, going 13 of 29 for 186 yards, no TDs, no picks. Probably the ugliest part of his day was one overthrow and one underthrow of Brian Hartline, who had gotten wide open behind the New England secondary twice.

That long last drive allowed by the Dolphins really sunk them. They allowed the Patriots to chew up clock and the Patriots sent a message, doing it by running the ball right at the Dolphins. But it is hard to pin this loss on a defense that sacked Brady four times, picked him off once and held the Patriots offense to 23 points.

Overall

The Dolphins are now 5-7 and while still mathetically alive for the playoffs, are definitely on the outside looking in. This game sealed the AFC East for the Patriots so the Dolphins need a lot of things to go right for them to make the playoffs.

That being said, this was a definite moral victory, for what its worth, as the Patriots were expected to thrash the Dolphins, but instead escaped Miami with a close, tougher than expected win.

The entire offense looked out of sync today. It starts with Tannehill, this was perhaps his worst game of the season from an accuracy standpoint. He just couldn't seem to get into any kind of rythm. Were there drops, yeah. Did the receivers fail to get open a couple of times, yeah.

But this was a very winnable game considering the Pats only scored 23 points. Tannehill needed to be more efficient in my mind. If Tannehill completes the big play to Hartline earlier in the game, maybe we would have had a shot to comeback and tie or win it in the 4th.

Hats off to the defense for pressuring Brady. Hats off to Jones for having a monster day. Hats off to Martin for stepping in for Jake Long and having quite possibly his best game of the year.

Other than that, everyone else looked pretty mediocre. Bess looked lost at times. Bush was tap dancing. Dansby was getting abused at times by Hernandez.

Overall, we hung in there with the Patriots who were one of the hottest teams in the league going into this week. So I can't be completely ticked off by the final score. But we really did have a shot to make this a win and we didn't. We shot ourselves in the foot again. It's the hallmark of a young team.

The low snap and fumble to start the game, which put the defense in a tough spot. Then there was Jimmy Wilson's mindless running into the kicker penalty.

2. Tanny missing Hartline deep

His ball placement was extremely erratic today (particularly deep) and was costly. It was Hartline's turn in he rotation, with Bess taking a back seat ...... and he was beating Talib like a red headed step-child a lot out there today. If you count the back of the end zone miss, there were actually three really great chances. He absolutely HAS to connect on those passes, certainly at least one of them. There's no excuse for it ..... not the rookie factor, not the "weapons" factor, etc. etc.

If those things were eliminated, we're talking about a win and not a loss. 321 yards of total offense and only 13 pts is pathetic. The defense for the vast majority of the game did it's part, but the offense simply could not reward them for it. Still was shaking my head that after such a spectacular one-handed INT by Jones, penalties negate the TD.

BTW, never drink Rumplemintz shots at the end of the night. Watching us squander this one was even harder while suffering the worst hangover I've ever had. LOL

BTW, never drink Rumplemintz shots at the end of the night. Watching us squander this one was even harder while suffering the worst hangover I've ever had. LOL

No offense dude, but Rumplemintz is the cheap half pint you buy college (trust me, I did). Stick to a decent scotch or a nice micro brew. You'll not only appreciate the taste, you'll feel better in the morning.

Then again, I don't get too many chances to go out and do shots these days. Only enjoy what I can get away with after the wife and kids go to bed.

No offense dude, but Rumplemintz is the cheap half pint you buy college (trust me, I did). Stick to a decent scotch or a nice micro brew. You'll not only appreciate the taste, you'll feel better in the morning.

Then again, I don't get too many chances to go out and do shots these days. Only enjoy what I can get away with after the wife and kids go to bed.

Trust me, I didn't pick it. It was a friend's birthday and that's what he wanted. I forgot how hardcore it is though, 100 proof.

Normally I'm just a vodka/water guy to try and stay somewhat hydrated while I drink and never mix alcohols.

I said it before and I'll say it again. You need to do three things to beat the Patriots:

1 - Not turn the ball over.-Tannehill had the ball knocked out of his hand while throwing.-Fields fumbled the snap and we turned it over on downs.So we failed on step one.

2 - Pressure Tom Brady.-Four sacks.We succeeded at pressuring Brady.

3 - Get off the field defensively on 3rd down.-New England was 7 of 15 on 3rd down conversions.-The one that burned the worst was the roughing the kicker penalty that allowed Brady and Co. to go back on the field and drive down for a touchdown.Again, we failed.

While we made a game of it. We failed on two of the three things we needed to do. The two turnovers in our own end gave the Patriots 14 easy points. If Fields gets that punt off and Tannehill hangs on to the ball or throws it before he's hit, then there is no doubt the game would have been closer. If we had done a better job of getting off the field on 3rd down, especially not committing that stupid penalty, again the game would have been better for us. We were close, but we all know that we're not playing horseshoes here.

As for my liquor taste, I live in Denver and Stranahan's Whiskey is my liquor of choice. I go through a bottle about once every six months and I enjoy every drop (only drink on special occasions and even then I don't drink much).

As mentioned before, the Dolphins sacked Brady four times. One of the biggest sacks came from Cameron Wake, who now has 10.5 sacks on the season.

Man, that was a thunderous sack. Brady didn't even see it coming.

Rich wrote:

... this was a definite moral victory, for what its worth, as the Patriots were expected to thrash the Dolphins, but instead escaped Miami with a close, tougher than expected win.

Definitely. I was expecting the worst as our secondary has not played well and our pass rush is inconsistent. Also, it was obvious that Talib has improved the Patriots secondary. The Dolphins played hard until the defense wore out at the end of the game.

Tannehill actually missed 3 different touchdown opportunities with Hartline. The one deep that he was at least several yards ahead, then there was one in the back of the end zone that was thrown out of his reach to drag his feet in bounds and then the one towards the very end of the game that was under thrown. Each of those passes, I do not remember Tannehill having rushers in his face, so he has to make those throws. Hartline probably would have had another 200 plus yard game all by himself.

Obviously his timing was just a bit off, it is just shame when the Pats were beatable yesterday.

Tannehill actually missed 3 different touchdown opportunities with Hartline. The one deep that he was at least several yards ahead, then there was one in the back of the end zone that was thrown out of his reach to drag his feet in bounds and then the one towards the very end of the game that was under thrown. Each of those passes, I do not remember Tannehill having rushers in his face, so he has to make those throws. Hartline probably would have had another 200 plus yard game all by himself.

Obviously his timing was just a bit off, it is just shame when the Pats were beatable yesterday.

Hartline has the worst luck with deep passes. Henne consistently overthrew him and I remember Moore underthrowing him a few times. Now Tannehill can't make up his mind if he wants to over or under throw him.

The back of the end zone pass seemed to be the result of having to throw over the coverage. Not saying Tannehill couldn't have made a better throw but that is the one I was least upset with.